In miniaturised electronic equipment, such as an implantable medical device, space is frequently at a premium, and the use of the minimum number of components is desirable. Another requirement arising in such devices is low power consumption, so the use of an efficient power management techniques is required.
Communication with the in-vivo device maybe by a number of means, such as radio, typified by the Medical Implant Communications Service described in the ITU-R Recommendation SA 1346, typified by equipment meeting the requirements of the Standard EN301 839, or by inductive loop methods, typified by equipment meeting the requirements of the Standards EN300 330 and EN302 195, said Standards being published by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute.